1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for assembling substrates of a planar fluorescent lamp, and more particularly, to an apparatus for assembling an upper substrate and a lower substrate of a planar fluorescent lamp.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, as a back light unit which is a back side illumination of an LCD panel, use and development of the planar fluorescent lamp, which can provide a high luminance and a high luminance uniformity, increases, rapidly. The planar fluorescent lamp is fabricated by assembling an upper plate of a serpentine shape and a planar lower plate with sealfrit, and coating fluorescent material on an inside space thereof.
An example of the planar fluorescent lamp will be described, briefly with reference to the attached drawings 1 and 2.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the fluorescent lamp 100 is provided with an upper substrate 101 and a lower substrate 102, which are separable in up/down directions. The upper substrate 101 has a shape of serpentine, and one pair of electrodes at opposite ends.
The lower substrate 102 is planar. The upper substrate 101 and the lower substrate 102 are assembled in an up/down direction with sealfrit. The assembly of the upper substrate 101 and the lower substrate 102 form a single channel 104 in the fluorescent lamp 100, on which a fluorescent material is coated. The sealfrit and the fluorescent material are set by heating.
The fluorescent lamp 100 is fabricated by evacuating an inside of the fluorescent lamp 100, and attaching the electrodes 103 after finishing setting of the upper substrate 101 and the lower substrate in a furnace at an elevated temperature.
However, the related art planar fluorescent lamp has the following problems in fabrication.
In a related art process for fabricating the fluorescent lamp in the furnace, a baking process is performed to attach the sealfrit and the fluorescent material to surfaces of the upper substrate and the lower substrate, then an assembling process is performed, to bond the upper substrate and the lower substrate together loaded on a separate assembling apparatus, and to pass the upper substrate and the lower substrate through the furnace, to bond the upper substrate and the lower substrate completely, thereby finishing fabrication of the fluorescent lamp.
However, the baking process and the assembling process performed separately with separate apparatuses cause to require the upper substrate and the lower substrate fed into, and drawn out of the furnace frequently, not only to drop working efficiency, with consequential poor productivity, but also to cause cases when the upper substrate and the lower substrate are damaged during working, frequently.
Moreover, since there have been no means for continuous fabrication of a plurality of fluorescent lamps in the related art, excessive working time period is required for mass production of the fluorescent lamps.